Bill-file.



No. 807,783. 'PATENTED DEC. 19, 1905.

E. M. SHRBINER.

BILL FILE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 9, 1905.

I 4 49 I NVE NTOR ATTORNEY UNITED STATES EDWARD M. SHREINER, OF CANTON, OHIO.

BILL-FILE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 19, 1905.

Application filed January 9, 1905. Serial No. 240,157.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD M. SHREINER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Canton, in the county of Stark and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Bill-Files, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to a file for temporarily binding bills, as of the current or running account of a retail grocers customer, and the objects of the invention are to provide a simple, compact, and inexpensive file in which perforated loose sheets can be easily inserted and removed, in which a given account can be readily referred to, and which entire file can be easily connected to and disconnected from its normal place of support and when supported is in convenient position for entering accounts as sales are made or goods are delivered. These objects are attained by the construction and arrangement illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a shelf having two files attached thereon and one file detached therefrom; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section of the file; Fig. 3, an under perspective view of the body and connecting-plates; Fig. 4, a side elevation of an alternate manner of mounting the connecting-plate; and Fig. 5, an enlarged detached view of the adjacent tapered ends of the arch legs, showing the convenient manner of entering the bills.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

The body A of the file is a flat plate of metal or other strong inflexible material and is preferably of about the same Width as the bills B to be filed. The binding-arches O are each made of a single piece of strong stiff wire passed through the apertures 60, located in the body-plate near its upper end. The partsb of the wire below the plate are preferably flattened and are securely attached to the plate by means of the rivets 0.

The legs (Z and e of the binding-arch stand perpendicular to the body-plate and are both tapered at the ends to the points f and f. The inner or lower legs (Z are considerably longer than the outer or upper legs 0, and the parts comprising the excess length are curved or arched toward the shorter legs, so that the pointed ends f of the longer legs are in line with and adjacent to the pointed ends f of the shorter legs. This relation of the ends of the two legs of the arches is maintained at all times by the stiffness of the arch-Wires and the rigidity of their attachment to the bodyplate.

The index-cards D, D, and D are preferably made of thin sheets of tin, aluminium, celluloid, or other light but stiff and durable material, and these cards and the ordinary paper bills B are provided with the perforations 9 near the upper edge, which perforations are spaced laterally apart, so as to receive the legs of the binding-arches. The

cards and bills are mounted one at a time on the arches by inverting them and then entering the upper edge 9 in the slight interval between the pointed ends of the arch-legs, as shown with respect to a bill in the partly-open file in Fig. 1, until the perforations register with the ends of the arch-legs, whereupon the card or bill can be moved either way on the arches and is securely retained or bound thereon. The adjacent ends of the arch-legs being tapered to points, the bill is very readily entered between them by applying the upper edge g of the bill to the outer side of the curved leg, with the bill inclined upward therefrom at an acute angle, as shown by broken line in Fig.- 5, and by then sliding the bill downward along the side of the leg until it finds the interval between the points, whereupon the bill can be easily entered therein diagonally downward, as shown by full line in the same figure. The bills are also very readily removed for the same reason.

For the purpose of economizing space and material the index-cards are made in pairs, the two cards in each pair being just alike, excepting that they are inverted end for end. The perforations g in the cards are located nearer to one side than to the other, so that one side of each card projects a short distance beyond the sides of the bills and adjacent cards, and each succeeding pair of cards are made a little longer than the pair next above, so that each card hasa lower corner, in regular alternation on one side or the other, projecting out from under the cards above. The cards so arranged are successively designated on these exposed corners by consecutive characters, as by the numerals 1 anc 2, 8 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8, &c., marked on the corners of the alternate cards of each pair.

The index-cover E is preferably made of sheet metal having its sides and lower edges 7!, turned or folded over to form grooves into which the index-sheet F is entered from the upper end. The cover and sheet are perforated like the cards and bill near the upper end and are likewise mounted on the binding arches. The index-sheet is ruled horizontally with as many lines as there are pairs of indexcards and also vertically with one line in the middle and a line at a short interval from each edge. The spaces thus marked off along the edges are marked on alternate sides 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8, &c.,' in the same manner as the indexcards are marked, and the corresponding interior spaces are marked with the names of the customers whose accounts are entered on the bills in the file, as Adams, Brown, Chase, and Dean on one side and Neal, Owens, Price, and Quinn on the other side. By this arrangement of cards and indexing if it is desired to turn to the account of Dean, which is numbered 7, the exposed corner of the index-card 7 being located in the same relative position as the number on the index-sheet is readily found, and by inserting the finger under this exposed corner all the cards and bills above this card can readily be lifted up and thrown over backward on the binding-arches, so as to expose the bills containing the Dean account, which are mounted in the file immediately below the index-card marked with the number of the account.

The file is normally supported for use on the connecting-plate G, which is screwed or otherwise firmly attached, preferably on the shelf H, from the edge of which the plate is bent to extend diagonally downward. On the inclined part of the plate is provided the post 71, having the head 1', and near the upper end of the body-plate of the file is provided the aperture with the upward-extending slot Z. This aperture is formed large enough to freely pass the head of the connecting-plate post, and the slot is formed to neatly receive the shank of the post, but not to pass the head thereof. By placing the body-plate of the file on the connecting-plate, first entering the post-head in the aperture of the body-plate and then sliding the body-plate downward, so that the slot engages around the shank of the post and under its head, the file is securely held on the connecting-plate. By reversing this operation the file is readily detached from the connecting-plate. The parts are so proportioned that the connecting-plate neatly enters between the flattened parts I) of the archwires on the under side of the body-plate, which wires actas shoulders to firmly hold the file against lateral movement by abutting be utilized for storing stock in the usual manner, and the file so supported is inclined as a desk, which is a convenient position for making entries in the accounts. At night the several files can be detached and stored in a safe or vault. The alternate manner of attaching the connecting-plate (shown in Fig. 4) is sometimes desirable, because the plate so arranged does not project outward from the she f.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a bill-file, the combination of a bodyplate having binding-arches thereon and a series of index-cards separably mounted on the arches, the index-cards being made in pairs of equal length, each pair being a little longer than the next pair above and the sides of the several cards being projected on alternate sides a short distance beyond the sides of the bills and adjacent cards, the alternatelyexposed lower corners of the cards being marked by consecutive characters.

2. In combination, a bill-file having indexcards separably mounted thereon, the indexcards having parts successively exposed on alternate sides and marked by successive characters, and a cover having an index sheet thereon marked along the sideedges by successive characters in the same relative position as the card characters, with spaces on the sheet for entering the names of accounts opposite the several characters.

3. In combination, a shelf or the like having a connecting-plate attached thereon and extended diagonally downward therefrom, there being a post having a head on the connecting-plate, and a bill-file including a baseplate having an aperture near the upper end thereof adapted to freely pass the post-head and a slot extended upward from the aperture adapted to neatly receive the post-shank, there being shoulders on the base-plate adapted to allaut against the side edges of the connectingp ate.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

' EDWARD M. SHREINER.

Witnesses:

MINNIE F. ANTHONY, HARRY FREAsn. 

